Tomb Raider Reboot Is Inspired by Current Game Series & Indiana Jones

Warner Bros. and MGM have been threatening to reboot Tomb Raider for years now. But it was only this past November that the studio finally locked in a director, hiring Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug for the job. He will be working from a screenplay by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who is also busy scripting Transformers 5. Not much has been said about the movie in the past few months. But IGN was able to catch up with the director, who shared some of his hopes and dreams for the project.

Roar Uthaug says that this new version will be an origin story. And that it will be curbing from the most recent version of the video game, first released in 2013. The filmmaker went onto praise Crystal Dynamics' ability to make Lara Croft a relatable character. If anything, that is what will inspire his big screen version of the iconic character. He wants to ground this Lara Croft in reality.

"I think making Lara Croft feel like a real human being, that's definitely something we want to bring to the big screen as well. I think we'll want to make people relate to Lara as a character. I'm hoping to bring some of my Norwegian sensibilities to the franchise."

Roar Uthaug ain't no first timer when it comes to Lara Croft. The man has been playing the video game for the past 20 years, first becoming familiar with the character as far back as 1996. His love for the property is one of the reasons he signed on. He explains.

"I've always been a fan of strong female characters. And I think I've had strong female characters in all my previous movies, so that's something I thought was interesting."

Roar Uthaug is currently earning raves for his indie thriller The Wave. And he's very interested in the process of making a big action adventure tentpole type film. He's even using Indiana Jones as inspiration, a character that influenced the original video game. He states the following.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of my favorite films growing up, so it's definitely a dream to work in that kind of genre. I think we'll want to make it feel like a modern action movie and to make what's going on feel like it's going on for real."

Warner Bros. and MGM have not bothered to set a production start date or release date for Tomb Raider. More importantly, they have not cast Lara Croft, nor do we know who they might have in mind. Angelina Jolie originated the role for the big screen in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and returned two years later in 2003's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life. It sounds like the director and studio may be hunting for an actress who is not so world renown and famous.